Rescuers, on Sunday, recovered two more bodies from cloudburst-battered Chishoti village in Kishtwar district taking the death toll to 63, said officials.
“Two more bodies were recovered from the debris today, which has now taken the death toll to 63 so far. Searches are still on to trace missing pilgrims. We don’t have any exact figures of those missing,” said a revenue official.
As per reports 160 pilgrims remain missing since the cloudburst in the village.
On Sunday, CISF DIG MK Yadav also visited Chishoti to take stock of the rescue operations. “Search and rescue operation is underway. We had deployed our personnel here for the Machail Mata Yatra earlier. When this unfortunate incident happened, our personnel alerted people and saved a few. Our three personnel lost their lives and one is still missing,” he said.
Chief minister Omar Abdullah had on Saturday expressed concern over the recent natural calamities in the Union territory, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand and called for consultation with experts to see what can be done to “mitigate the risks and dangers”.
“The entire Himalayan belt is now more prone to glacial lake bursts and cloudbursts,” he had said while responding about the possibility of forming a team of experts by his government to safeguard the fragile ecosystem in J&K.
“We are going to have a look at it. It is not just what is happening in J&K. Look at the scary videos that we saw from Uttarakhand. What is happening in Himachal? We are all now, I think, prone to these glacial lake bursts and cloudbursts. To deal with this freak weather, we will have to collectively and individually consult experts to see what we can do to mitigate the risks and the dangers of these things,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}“We are going to have a look at it. It is not just what is happening in J&K. Look at the scary videos that we saw from Uttarakhand. What is happening in Himachal? We are all now, I think, prone to these glacial lake bursts and cloudbursts. To deal with this freak weather, we will have to collectively and individually consult experts to see what we can do to mitigate the risks and the dangers of these things,” he said.
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